This Slack discussion by , , , , , , and yours truly occurred in 's official #general channel, and has been edited for readability. Alfredo de Candia Matt Klein Golda Velez Linh Smooke David Smooke Shahmeer Khan Sidra slogging Chatbots: Yay or nay? Why and why not? Sadia Mehmood Jan 29, 2021, 8:37 AM Yay because You can support thousand of users at the same time; nay because a robot can't solve all the needs of the users, and they tend to prefer a real person Alfredo de Candia Jan 29, 2021, 1:33 PM Nay. This is not a one-size fit all solution. For instance, if one wanted to use a Bot to check the weather, view bus times, schedule meetings, look up stock quotes or find restaurants, fair game. Play on. These are task-based inquiries, where a Bot voice does not impact user’s experience, and in fact may, may work best for the service. But one of the greatest parts of brands existing in the digital space is the spawned ability for consumers to directly communicate with the humanized organization on a social platform. Never before could one imagine messaging or tweeting a brand mascot or multi-billion dollar company and end up engaging in conversation. However, as we’ve watched most brands tackle digital, an unanimous conclusion can be reached. They still just don’t get it. Further, in a time of tech saturation, sometimes the human touch works like magic. With Bots scheduled to be deployed, we’re degrading the process to human-to-bot communication. We’re moving in the opposite direction. Klein Jan 29, 2021, 2:40 PM It depends how smart and what sort of gpu power you have. GPT-3 on DialoGPT by Microsoft is a nearly human (turing?) experience. Jan 29, 2021, 2:51 PM Also hilariously arguably the offspring of Tay Jan 29, 2021, 2:52 PM Totally. In nearly 16 hours, Microsoft pulled the plug on Tay, when it was broadcasting subversive and controversial Tweets. The public crafted Tay as a racist, sexually-charged Holocaust denier. Many called Tay a failure and painted the incident as a PR disaster for Microsoft. Or perhaps it was the opposite? Maybe Tay was a success and support that we're not fully ready or willing to communicate with bots? Klein Jan 29, 2021, 2:58 PM TBH I think that she did perfectly. The issue was in censorship. She reflected, indeed, the sentiment of the tens thousands trolls that immediately hopped on that train. Jan 29, 2021, 2:59 PM I have PMs with Tay somewhere on Twitter before sh#t went nuts. Jan 29, 2021, 3:00 PM AI bots need anchors to reality - at least a trust network with a few anchors of trusted humans. Golda Velez Jan 29, 2021, 5:45 PM Yay! I like that AI is getting better. Linh Smooke Jan 29, 2021, 6:38 PM I think chatbots have proven to have utility value for collecting people's information, directing people to the right article of a help section, and scheduling times on the calendar. IMHO They are not yet able to help people truly troubleshoot or make purchasing decisions.  But they are learning fast! David Smooke Jan 29, 2021, 8:49 PM Agreeing with David Smooke, as of now we haven't achieved that level of machine intelligence. We still have to count on real human assistance on this one. But surely chatbots can be helpful in many ways like Dominos chatbot that receive orders. So, yay, chatbots can be used to perform automated tasks. Shahmeer Khan Jan 29, 2021, 9:30 PM Nay, because they are still far away in trouble shooting real time problems. Shahmeer Khan Jan 29, 2021, 9:30 PM Yay for 24/7 availability. Sidra Jan 30, 2021, 4:54 AM Totally agree with Golda Velez I, for one, find chatbots pretty annoying TBH! Even though they tend to make the entire customer experience seamless. But sooner or later, you do need assistance from 'human' support personnel. Also, I get to know about so many diverse opinions, so thank you so much for being a part of this thread you guys. Much love. Sadia Mehmood Jan 30, 2021, 8:19 AM You are right too, for, providing personalized experiences, chatbots can prove to be very efficient. Sadia Mehmood Jan 30, 2021, 8:26 AM

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